Re: Yass

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

Neil Gerace (geracen@wantree.com.au) won a Nobel Prize for literature by writing:
> Last May I visited Canberra, and while I was there I had a look around Yass.
> It was my good fortune to get to the Yass station just as the XPT rocked up.
> The station is a few km from Yass itself, but it looks like the M-S railway
> used to have a branch that went right into Yass. Anyone know when this
> changed to the present setup?

The line from Yass Junction to Yass Town has an interesting history. It
was always called the Yass Tramway, I think something to do with the
street running. I don't know if it was ever legally considered to be a
railway.

Passenger services connected at Yass Junction. In the early days it was
usually a Z13 hauling a single CCA, and sometimes a couple of goods wagons
and a van. It was a CPH in later days, with 48s running goods trains.
X200s have also worked to Yass Town. There was also a station (just a
short platform with no sidings) at North Yass.

The last train was in 1988 and I think the line closed in 1989. ARHS (ACT)
has a museum at Yass Town and there have been various proposals to reopen
the branch as a tourist railway. The bridge needs a lot of work and some
level crossings have been abolished.

There have been two proposals to extend the line through to Canberra. The
first proposal in 1915 was a very bad route and would have stood in the
way of much of the later urban development. It was to supplement the
shorter branch from Queanbeyan. It followed Sullivan's Creek through what
is now Lyneham and O'Connor to the site chosen for the Garema Place
station.

The second proposal in the late 50s wass connected with the Melbourne -
Albury standard gauge, to allow direct through running from Melbourne to
Canberra. The route ran around the north of Canberra through Mitchell,
then around Mt Majura, past the airport and on to Kingston.

Cheers
David